Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 54 Hard-sailed Fujian Ships vs. Wind-sailed Warships
Contrary to popular belief, sailboats powered by wind, whether with soft or hard sails, can actually sail against the wind.

Because when sailing against the wind, the sail is not propelled by the wind, but by Bernoulli's principle of fluid dynamics.

When the wind blows at a small angle toward the sail, this angle is called the "angle of attack". At the same time, the sail can bend into an arc with the wind, so there is a difference in the airflow speed on the front and back sides of the sail.

Anyone who has studied physics knows that the faster the flow rate, the lower the pressure.

The sail naturally generates lateral pressure downwind, just like the principle of an airplane.

The wind is coming from due north at sea, so the Zhang Fushun can sail against the wind along directions of 30-40° east of north and 30-40° west of north.

This sailing posture, which is closest to the wind and close to the wind, is called "near-wind sailing".

The sailboat will sometimes sail close to the wind on the left, then switch to the right and sail for a while, repeating this process to keep moving forward against the wind.

In theory, the better a ship's seaworthiness, the smaller the angle of the zigzag pattern, and according to the Pythagorean theorem, the faster it can travel against the wind.

"Heave-ho, heave-ho"

On the Fujian-style ship, the sailors, under the command of three stewards—One Thousand (in charge of the main sail), Two Thousand (in charge of the second sail), and Three Thousand (in charge of the third sail)—worked together to turn the winch and adjust the sail direction at large angles.

On the sailing warships, the sailors, under the command of the sailing captain, adjusted the densely packed moving supports, using the mast as an axis to pull the swing bar cables to change the square sails into fore and aft sails, so that both ships were sailing against the wind.

call--!
Looking down from above, the two ships cut through the waves on the snow-covered sea, each drawing a perfect white arc.

It is evident that the hard-sail Fujian-style ship [Zhang Fushun] has a smaller radius, a smaller angle with the north wind when sailing close to the wind, and stronger seaworthiness.

The north wind, carrying snowflakes, lashed Wang Cheng's face, turning his hair and his perpetually furrowed brows white.

"Hard sails can indeed take advantage of more wind angles."

However, compared to sailing warships, the masts are shorter and weaker, and the rigid sails themselves are not strong enough.

When sailing downwind, it cannot outrun the larger, more wind-catching Clark and Galleon boats.

In non-headwind conditions, there is little difference between it and a combination soft sail;

It has an advantage in headwinds or when the wind direction is changeable, and can achieve the effect of wind coming from all directions by making large angles of the stiff sail.

My only advantage now is my ability to withstand headwinds, which is also the only chance for the [Zhang Fushun] to survive!

The two ships raced back and forth for a full half hour before Zhang Fushun, with the advantage of its stiff sails, gained the upper hand by a narrow margin.

The sailing warship [Zi Ying], which was in pursuit, suddenly slowed down.

When the wind blows over the Zhang Fushun, which is upwind, it is immediately disturbed by the masts and sails on board, creating a chaotic "wake" like a boulder in a river.

The leeward warship is located in the turbulence created by the upwind side, which naturally reduces the leeward warship's mobility.

This is the most standard tactical opening move in warship combat: Gatling!
Once the rankings are determined, it is very difficult to regain the wind direction advantage.

"At the bow, the enemy's command has not made any mistakes. They have seized the only opportunity. The Ziying may not be able to take them down in a short time."

Should we change our goals?

The vice-captain, Tanaka, with his signature moon-shaped hairpin, was a typical Japanese samurai who spoke Japanese. He was accompanied by an interpreter wearing a hat.

Clearly, this was a temporary team assembled to complete the assassination mission, and they hadn't worked out together at all.

Apart from a select few, most others probably don't even know who their real superior is.

However, their professional skills are absolutely not a problem.

Tanaka, the vice-captain, was absolutely right.

In the current situation, if the upwind warship is outmatched, it can escape by "sailing upwind," while the downwind warship is still stuck in the turbulent current and will inevitably be unable to catch up, and the distance will only increase.

If the downwind warships were no match for them, they still couldn't escape because they were in turbulent currents, where even with a tailwind, their speed would be very slow. Of course, the latter scenario was impossible; the Zi Ying only had the distinction of victory or a great victory, and would never be defeated by a mere fishing boat.

The captain, Cui Sheng, also realized this problem. If they had the wind at their backs, they could easily catch up with the Han Xingfa, but they probably would never catch up with this ship.

If the pursuit continues, it won't be as easy as we imagine; it might even take a considerable amount of time and encounter unexpected setbacks.

Before he could even make a decision, Wang Cheng made the decision for him.

The ship 【Zhang Fushun】 didn’t have a single naval gun, let alone the most outdated bowl-shaped cannon or the most basic breech-loading cannon.

Wang Cheng stood at the bow of the ship, gripping the only large crossbow he had ever bought from the ghost market in Yuegang, also known as a heavy ballista.

He affixed a [Wind Talisman] drawn by his master to the anchor-shaped gun head used to deal with the large sea monster, and locked his mind, eyes, and vision onto a figure on the [Purple Ying] ship, then pulled the trigger sharply.

Whoosh-!
The giant crossbow arm trembled, blasting a large hole in the swirling snow, and a crossbow lance, as long as a spear, shot out with tremendous kinetic energy.

The Xunfeng Talisman burned out instantly, and the whirlwind carried the gun barrel as it spun rapidly, emitting a piercing shriek.

Like an indestructible drill bit, it instantly traversed a distance of nearly a hundred feet between the two.

It pierced through the chest of the helmsman on the aft deck, lifting him into the air and pinning him firmly to the sterncastle.

The helmsman stared wide-eyed in disbelief, made two strange "clucking" sounds in his throat, then his neck lolled to the side and he was lifeless.

"Urakami——!"

"Chase them! Kill them all and avenge Urakami!"

A group of Japanese people gasped in shock.

The helmsman is one of the most important skilled workers on a ship, and his status is incomparable to that of ordinary crew members.

Before the parachuted-in captain, Cui Sheng, could give a speech, the enraged Japanese crew, led by the first mate, Tanaka, turned the ship around and continued their pursuit of the Zhang Fushun.

Behind them, the [Han Xingfa] had completely disappeared into the snowstorm and vanished from sight, making it extremely difficult to track it down.

Seeing this, Cui Sheng, the captain of the boat, had a moment of gloom in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do.

When the weather conditions in the East China Sea improve at the beginning of next year, the Wufeng Banner will launch a full-scale attack on the prefecture under the pretext of avenging Prince Jinghai, Wang Zeng.

His superiors dared not risk exposing their identities by using their own men at this critical juncture, and could only rely on these Japanese, which inevitably led to poor command.

Cui Sheng could only console himself:
"It's not a big problem."

With the Ziying Ship around, the final outcome won't change; it's simply a matter of whether they die a day sooner or a day later.

There are still monkey hairs on Miss Han's boat, enough for me to use a curse to pinpoint their location and then catch up with them.

This sailing warship, named "Zi Ying," is 39 meters long and has a crew of nearly 200.

It has one continuous gun deck, equipped with 20 12-pounder guns; and one open deck, equipped with 12 6-pounder guns, for a total of 32 guns.

In comparison, the largest cannons of the Zhao navy and land forces were 18-pound cannons, while the thousand-pound breech-loading cannons used as main guns by many small pirate ships were 3-pound cannons.

A single ship, the "Zi Ying," facing off against an ordinary Fujianese ship at sea would only result in a one-sided massacre.

The Zhao navy was not worth mentioning; only the main forces of well-known pirates and armed merchants in the East China Sea and the South China Sea were qualified to confront them.

Cui Sheng believed that no one can be infallible, and that as long as he seized just one opportunity, he could completely discredit that one mistake.
Whoosh!
Another crossbow bolt whistled through the air, grazing his temple and pinning a Japanese sailor to the deck, leaving a gruesome bloodstain on his cheek.

"what--!"

(End of this chapter)